Aircraft (e.g., commercial aircraft) commonly include landing gear (e.g., left main landing gear, right main landing gear, etc.) that may be hydraulically actuated to move between a deployed position and a retracted position. For example, the landing gear of an aircraft may by hydraulically actuated to move from the deployed position to the retracted position subsequent to and/or in connection with a takeoff procedure of the aircraft, and from the retracted position back to the deployed position prior to and/or in connection with a landing procedure of the aircraft. Hydraulic actuation of the landing gear typically occurs in response to a manual actuation (e.g., via a pilot of the aircraft) of a landing gear lever located in a cockpit of the aircraft.
Some known aircraft implement landing gear that must be shrunk (e.g., reduced in length) prior to being moved from the deployed position to the retracted position. For example, the length of the landing gear may need to be reduced (e.g., shrunk) such that the landing gear is able to fit within the spatial confines of a well of the aircraft that stows the landing gear in the retracted position. In such known aircraft, the shrinking of the landing gear commonly occurs in parallel with actuating the landing gear from the deployed position to the retracted position, and/or is dependent upon the kinematic motion associated with actuating the landing gear from the deployed position to the retracted position.